


Sol

by MeltedIceAngel



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Broken Bones, Chenle is a sweetheart, Chenle is going to break his glasses one day, Dizziness, Gen, He watches space documentaries in the ER just to make Renjun happy, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, I think?, Jeno just wants to read in peace, Light-Hearted, Lots of Chenle feeling bad for his gege and trying to hug it better, Nausea, Renjun is frustrated, X-Rays, bad landing, but Chenle keeps knocking everything over, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24396895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeltedIceAngel/pseuds/MeltedIceAngel
Summary: “I broke my ankle, what am I going to do? Our music video gets released in a week!” Renjun said.“You probably just sprained it, Jun, don’t panic,” Donghyuck said, suspiciously sounding close to panicking himself. Renjun considered the possibility of not having broken his ankle for as long as the throbbing settled.In other words, not very long.“Well, Renjun,” Jaemin said, clapping his hands together. “Looks like we’ve got a round trip ticket to the hospital. Ready to go? All packed? Got your boarding pass and passport?” Renjun was seriously going to hit him if he didn’t stop talking.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun & Lee Jeno, Huang Ren Jun & Zhong Chen Le, Huang Ren Jun/Everyone
Comments: 5
Kudos: 132





	Sol

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, this isn't Renmin but it has Renjun, and it's not Chensung but it has Chenle? Who am I?
> 
> I'm trying a new writing style. I'm still a bit...off from how people were responding to the Prank Wars and Stargazing sounding simple, so I tried diving a bit deeper into thoughts and what not. To be honest, I realize I can't do this with Stargazing since it switches POVs, but with Jaemin's Prank Time it might work? (ALSO Y'ALL!!! People got so upset with how mean the pranks were, but ever since I started writing the nicer ones the views have dropped in half! xD Tsk.)
> 
> I don't know, let me know how it sounds!

_Thud._ Renjun’s ankle twisted as he came down from a jump, his whole body crumbling loudly to the practice room floor. It hurt, but nowhere near as bad as he expected. The entire room was trapped between two different emotions, some laughing and clapping at his expense while others were hand to mouth shocked, eyes wide and eyebrows up to their hairline. 

Renjun laughed it off at first, still a bit disoriented. He felt off, a visible noise that somehow _sounded_ like ringing in front of his eyes. He went to stand up, using the leg that hadn’t taken the brunt to push himself up. Just as they were about to restart the song, Renjun settled his other leg down. 

Nausea shot through his body like ice-cold fire, his sight blacking out as he tumbled back to the floor. He was unaware of the happenings around him, completely out of it until he managed to blink his eyes open to those of four hysterical gazes. His ankle throbbed indignantly, angered by Renjun’s attempt at standing on it. 

“Can you hear me?” It was Mark that was speaking to him. Renjun had to blink a few more times, the pain in his ankle making it hard to concentrate. For how little it hurt when it happened, it sure did hurt now. 

“My ankle,” Renjun managed to say. 

“Can you move it?” Mark asked, lifting Renjun to sit up straight. 

Renjun tried and immediately regretted it. It was like hot, burning needles were being shoved into the bones of his foot. He cried out, hand shooting to hold just below his knee. The pain traveled high, all the way up into his kneecap. If he was feeling dramatic enough, he could say he felt it up in his hip, shooting up his back. 

“I’m so nauseous,” Renjun exhaled, his panic not helping the situation. “I broke my ankle, hyung.” 

“It’s okay, our manager is on his way. Just stay calm,” Mark said, running a soothing hand up and down Renjun’s injured leg. 

“I broke my ankle, what am I going to do? Our music video gets released in a week!” Renjun said, fingers digging into the skin of his cheeks. Chenle pulled Renjun’s hands away and held them, whispering assurances in Chinese that only worked to calm Renjun a fraction of the way. 

“You probably just sprained it, Jun, don’t panic,” Donghyuck said, suspiciously sounding close to panicking himself. Renjun considered the possibility of not having broken his ankle for as long as the throbbing settled. 

In other words, not very long. 

“Well, Renjun,” Jaemin said, clapping his hands together. “Looks like we’ve got a round trip ticket to the hospital. Ready to go? All packed? Got your boarding pass and passport?” Renjun was seriously going to hit him if he didn’t stop talking. 

“I don’t think I can walk,” Renjun said instead of humoring Jaemin’s attempt at lightening the mood. Valiant effort as it was, Renjun was really close to throwing up, and he’d rather it not be because he had an obligatory duty to fake gag whenever Jaemin tried to be cute. 

“I’ll carry him,” Jeno said, lifting Renjun easily into his arms. 

“Ah! My ankle!” Renjun’s whole body tensed as his foot flopped lifelessly, the pain unbearable. It moved in all the wrong ways, up and down and a bit to the side, and suddenly the room was much dimmer, and noise seemed a bit far away. 

“Chenle, it’s okay,” Renjun couldn’t expend enough energy to decipher who exactly was talking. He did hear Chenle’s answering sob, however. He may or may not have verbalized something because the original speaker responded back with a, “Why are you scared? He’s going to be fine!” 

Not if someone didn’t hold his damn foot still, he wouldn’t be! Seriously, did he have to do everything himself? 

The pain making him far more irritable than he would generally be, Renjun ground out, “Ankle. Hurts. Moving, stop. Please.” Very intimidating. Everyone was withering under his terrifying influence. 

“I’ll hold his ankle, we walk down together,” Someone said. Renjun yelped, effectively drowning the last of his pride, as someone grabbed his ankle. It felt like in a normal situation, it would be a gentle hold, but someone could’ve grabbed his leg with a pair of industrial-strength pliers. He wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. 

They ended up down on the first floor of the company building, all eyes trained on them. Renjun tried to smile to get them to stop staring, but it seemed to be having the opposite effect. He then switched to glaring, but all that did was make people openly coo over him. 

Their manager was waiting impatiently in one of the company cars. Jaemin opened the door to the back seat and helped Jeno settle Renjun down. His sweaty back and legs stuck to the leather seats, making Jaemin nearly tumble into the car headfirst as he guided Renjun back against the opposite door. The resulting shockwave from Jaemin nose-diving rattled Renjun’s ankle, and he cried out embarrassingly loud. 

“Sorry,” Jaemin had the foresight to look a bit sheepish as he righted himself. Renjun tried to glare, but it was softened immensely by his wet eyes and pouty lips. It hurt so bad. The light wind hitting his exposed ankle somehow hurt, and it took all of his remaining self-control not to cry as he lifted himself up and moved to the opposite seat. 

“I want to go,” Chenle yelled as he ran up to the car. Renjun blinked slowly, trying to wrestle away the worst of the nausea and dizziness. Chenle looked wrecked; blotchy eyes, shining nose, red cheeks and lips. Their manager must have taken pity on him, for it ended up being Chenle and Jeno that came with them to the hospital. 

Once they arrived, Renjun was settled in a wheelchair that looked like it was made for children before being rolled into the Emergency Department by Jeno. Chenle had Renjun’s hand tightly gripped, the comfort clearly more for the younger’s benefit. He didn’t let go even when Renjun had to sign himself in, only switching hands so Renjun’s writing could be at least somewhat legible. 

Once all the paperwork was done, they were guided to a sectioned off area to wait. It was a nice area, grey carpet and walls keeping the space bright and less dreary than their typical physician’s office. The potted plants next to each chair added something nice, and the chairs themselves looked new with shiny fabric that darkened as you ran your hand over it. Chenle found this especially fascinating, and he dedicated the next half an hour to drawing patterns on Jeno’s chair.

Renjun very nearly fell asleep-or passed out-as they waited to be called. It was early in the afternoon on a Thursday, why were so many people in the Emergency Room? 

“Huang Renjun?” A long, thin woman with far too much lipstick called out into the room. “Two only.” The woman said, motioning toward the three people flanking Renjun on either side. With Chenle and Jeno both adults, their manager waved them off with a promise to sit by the window as he waited. 

They wheeled Renjun past a center work station with a cacophony of noise and running people in scrubs. He didn’t see too many white coats, but the deep navy blue scrubs against the white of the hospital walls was an eyesore. Never fear, there were more potted plants to make the disinfectant riddled area more lively and even a painted tiger on the far back wall. He was sure Chenle would’ve loved it, had he not been clinging so tightly to Renjun’s hand his field of view must have suffered. 

The nurse pulled back a curtain and motioned them in. She guided Renjun’s wheelchair parallel to the bed, then took a moment to angle it up so he wouldn’t be lying flat. “I’m going to need you to tighten up all your muscles so we can move you.” She said, lifting the footrests of the wheelchair up, so Renjun’s legs laid flat.

“He’s strong, he can do it,” Jeno said. Resigning himself to the painful jostle, Renjun tensed up as he was told. Jeno lifted him from under his armpits while the nurse lifted his legs, the pain only a fraction of what he’d expected when he was finally settled down. Jeno didn’t move away once they were done, his hands shifting until they were cupping both of Renjun’s shoulders. 

“1-10?” The nurse asked, typing away on a computer bolted into the wall. 

“7,” Renjun said, lowering the actual number down for Chenle’s benefit. It didn’t seem to work. Adult or not, Chenle was sensitive and didn’t like seeing others in pain, and it seemed like no matter what number Renjun gave Chenle would’ve been just as upset. “I’m okay, Lele.” 

“I know. I don’t like seeing you hurt,” Chenle tried to smile, but it didn’t reach the tip of his lips, let alone his eyes. Renjun held his hand as the nurse typed into her computer, the clicking aggravating and a bit too reminiscent of Jeno’s hours of planning for ASMR videos. He’d been convinced typing would be a fantastic idea, leaving Renjun and Jisung with a strong aversion to the sound.

Which kinda sucked when half of your members spent most of their lives playing computer games, Jisung included.

“Let’s see if we can get this shoe off, shall we?” The nurse clapped her hands together. Renjun looked down with a twinge of fear at his ankle. He thanked whatever deity that convinced him to wear his Balenciaga shoes instead of a pair of converse. He really wasn’t in the mood for getting a nice pair of shoes cut off his swollen ankle. 

The nurse was gentle as she pulled the shoe off, painstakingly slow but with a tinge of experienced carefulness that did nothing to help the pain. Renjun balled up a fist and threw it to his forehead, teeth clenched down in a bold attempt not to make any noise. By the time the shoe came off, Renjun was convinced they’d need to make a pit stop at a dentist to salvage what was left of his teeth. 

“Alright, can you flex your foot for me?” The nurse asked. Renjun tried, but nothing responded to him. “Twist it to the side?” Twisting it to the left offered nothing but a small twitch, but turning it to the right fared much better. The nurse clicked her tongue and went back to typing. Renjun, nervous and shy, averted his gaze from the others in the room as she went about her work. 

“Can you wiggle your toes for me?” The nurse pushed the computer back against the wall, removing Renjun’s sock and waiting patiently. He managed to get his toes to move just the slightest bit, but it satisfied the nurse enough; she only typed a few words instead of an entire novel series. 

“We’re going to get you in for an x-ray, alright? The tech should be around soon,” The nurse said, bidding them goodbye. She closed the curtain behind her, leaving Renjun enough privacy he had no shame in slamming his head back against the pillow underneath him. 

“Quit beating yourself up,” Jeno said. Renjun looked up at him but didn’t say a word in response. He wasn’t beating himself up; the broken ankle was punishment enough for his carelessness. He was more worried about how he was supposed to navigate the next few months of his life. Donghyuck had taken it so well, but he’d also missed so much. Renjun hadn’t missed a single thing since Dream had debuted, and he wasn’t exactly jumping up and down at the thought of starting now. 

He thought back to Donghyuck sitting on the practice room floor, notebooks in hand as he took pointless notes on choreography. Or how Johnny and Taeyong used to have to help him up the stairs to the dorm once he’d returned after the bones had healed. Healed! And he still couldn’t make it up the stairs alone. 

Renjun nearly cried again. There was no denying he was a bit weak emotionally, but it really didn’t need to kick him so hard when Chenle looked like he might pass out at every lip twitch from his elder brother. 

“Chenle, can you lay with me?” Renjun asked, and Chenle all but flew into the bed. He wrapped Renjun in the most protective hug he could manage at the angle, black hair fraying and tickling Renjun’s nose. He pushed the strands down, spitting a little to try and lighten the mood.

“Sorry,” Chenle chuckled. Renjun hummed as if annoyed, waving him off. 

They ended up making through half a documentary on the Sun before another nurse came in. Chenle pouted noticeably as Renjun paused the video, grumbling that he’d actually been enjoying Renjun’s weird space obsession for once. 

“My bad,” The nurse chuckled as Chenle shuffled off the bed. “Ready to go?” He addressed Renjun. 

Renjun set his jaw and nodded. There was no such thing as ready when he knew all that would happen is more poking at prodding at his ankle, but he had little to no choice in the matter. He simply laid back and let the nurse push his bed down the hallway, far, _far_ away from his friends. He looked back nervously a few times, itching to grab one of their hands. He hated this. Why was he so clumsy?

“I’m going to put this over you,” The nurse said, showing him a very large, very heavy looking...something? He did as he said, placing it over Renjun’s lap and chest. It wasn’t actually heavy, at least. He picked at the blue blanket like thing, wondering what exactly it was made for. “It’s a lead shield. It will keep the radiation where we want it. There won’t be enough radiation it could have any adverse effects, but it’s better to be on the safe side. I guess we never know how many x-rays someone might need in their lifetime?” The nurse winked at Renjun, and Renjun had the overwhelming urge to stick his tongue out as the nurse walked away. 

Renjun continued to fiddle with the shield until the nurse returned and instantly gave a grimacing smile. Renjun really wanted to go home. “I’m going to need to maneuver your foot around for this. If it ever gets too much, speak up,” He said, and Renjun nodded. He swallowed hard as the nurse placed his foot under a grey plate. Phosphor, Renjun remembered that from his stint in Biology.

“Ready?” The nurse asked, and Renjun nearly cried. He nodded his head anyway, using the handles on his bed to squeeze as the nurse pushed Renjun’s foot up until his toes were facing the ceiling. He was shaking already, but it wasn’t bad enough he felt the need to beg for mercy. More along the lines of a gentle, _for fuck’s sake, stop!_ He kept his mouth shut. “Can you hold it there?” Renjun nodded, and the nurse was off, billowing behind a wall that separated him from the rest of the room. 

This process was repeated again and again, in a plethora of different positions, with only a few leading to genuine tears slipping when the nurse bolted behind his wall. Finally, the nurse clapped his hands and informed him they were done. They began the trek back to his room, and to Renjun’s surprise, quite a few nurses gave him waves and small fist bumps of encouragement. Either he was really fucked up, and they all already knew, or they knew who he was. 

For once, he hoped they knew who he was. 

Chenle, excitable as he is, jumped up the second Renjun’s bed was slightly visible from inside the room. He knocked over the tv remote, a magazine, Jeno’s book and glasses, and his own phone, but only Jeno was left to deal with the fallout. Chenle was smiling ear to ear, hand already out to hold Renjun’s. “Gege, I missed you!” 

“It’s been fifteen minutes,” Renjun chuckled, flinching as the bed rocking jostled his ankle _again_. Chenle didn’t hesitate. He simply threw himself into the bed once it was stable and cuddled up, grabbing his phone from Jeno’s outstretched hand. 

“Sun? I think they said it would be another hour, so we have just enough time to finish!” Chenle said, pulling the video up without waiting for an answer. God, Renjun must look like a wreck to get this kind of treatment. He needed a mirror. “There’s more episodes after this, so we’ll have plenty to do.”

Renjun relaxed back into the bed with a resigned sigh. Jeno looked up with a smirk, glasses firmly back in place so they wouldn’t get dropped again. _We talked,_ Jeno mouthed. Renjun looked down at Chenle with something akin to the fondness one might find in something small and adorable, like a puppy or baby. It amazed Renjun that despite all the years of harsh criticisms, mistreatment, and lately, exclusion, Chenle was still...Chenle. 

“Stop staring at me,” Said adorable thing mumbled, eyebrows furrowed. “You’re missing out on counting how many times this man can say _billion_ in five minutes.” Renjun chuckled and hummed, looking back down at the phone. 

The man ended up saying billion somewhere around the forty-three mark before a doctor came into the room. Chenle paused the video this time, nervous energy floating off and hitting each of the members in the room. Even Jeno’s eyes shot over, hand up and rubbing his arm as if trying to dispel some of the fear. 

“I have good news and bad news,” The doctor said. Yep, Renjun broke his foot. “Which one first?”

“You can just tell me I broke it,” Renjun groaned, laying back onto the bed with a long-suffering sigh.   
  
“Yes you did,” The doctor chuckled. Renjun still had to fight the urge to cry out in frustration. Seriously, a bad jump. That’s it! “Good news is you won’t need surgery to fix it.” Well, that’s dandy, he hadn’t even thought of that as a possibility. 

Gaining absolutely nothing from that conversation, the doctor left with the promise to return to put a cast on Renjun’s ankle. Chenle and Jeno both pouted over dramatically at Renjun, and with his impressive wingspan, he managed to nearly slap them both before they pulled away. Chenle, feeling guilty for laughing, ended up lying on Renjun’s shoulder with a genuine pout. 

“Sorry, gege. Are you still hurting?” Chenle whispered. It didn’t feel good, but he couldn’t just say that with Chenle all depressed on his shoulder. 

“I’m okay, Lele,” Renjun whispered, running his fingers through Chenle’s straw-like hair. 

The doctor returned much quicker that time, and Chenle ended up choosing a light green for Renjun’s cast. _Like my hair, gege!_ It wasn’t big, only going up to his mid-shin, which left him with some options for walking in the future. He finished off the wrapping and clapped happily at the results. He let them know that he would grab a pair of crutches, and they’d be on their way. 

“Your broad shoulders will come in handy,” Jeno teased, lifting the back of Renjun’s shirt up. When the urge to stick his tongue out hit him, that time, he actually did it. 

“No fun, never again please,” Renjun said as he wobbled on his crutches, three pairs of hands shooting out to steady him. He managed to get himself back into the car without much help, but the two members and his manager still fussed and fussed and fussed. 

Low and behold, arriving back at the dorm, was met with similar goings. Jaemin guided him up the stairs with a hand on his back, and Mark encouraged him with that stupid worried face, palms out as if he could catch Renjun if he fell. Jisung was fluttering by the door with his long fingers moving so fast they cracked, not sure what to do but not wanting to pretend to help either. 

“2/7,” Donghyuck muttered as they all collapsed onto the couch, and the faces of the missing 5 whipped in his direction.

“Don’t jinx us!”

“Hyuck!”

“Hyung, stop!” 

“Great, now we’re _all_ going to break something.”

“For real?”

Renjun and Donghyuck caught eyes over the groveling members, both unable to help it as they laughed. 

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/meltediceangel (helps pay for medical school)
> 
> Seriously though, this dude said billion so many times I couldn't hear the word the same for at least an hour. 
> 
> Ask me questions: https://curiouscat.qa/gypsyether


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